I have a tiny "one-butt kitchen" and I would also be uncomfortable using a sharp knife with anyone crowded over me as close as in the picture. But I love(d) cooking with my kids even if we had to spill over into the rest of the apartment, and now when they visit I "sous-chef" by washing and prepping the vegetables ahead of time, making sure they start with all clean dishes and an empty dishwasher to put the used ones in, and making delighted noises about how much more beautiful their dumplings are than mine, that kind of thing. And later I rearrange the dishwasher to my liking/best efficiency, because it's only when you have all the dishes that you can really determine the best arrangement.

Oh my God! One of my absolute fucking FAVORITE things my son does is he really wants to help me cook. It's absolutely fucking adorable. He just turned 6 so there's not a lot that he can manage on his own yet for actual on the stove cooking, but I let him stir certain things, help me pour certain ingredients, stuff like that and he's always so proud.

My wife and I did "date night" ever other Thursday. One of our rules was that if we decided to stay in and cook, we had to do it together. I really liked those nights, but our kitchen was fairly good size. Like you said, it's a nice situation for just chatting. It's like being on a short road trip.

A lot of people are just control freaks about their living space and they can't stand someone doing something differently than they'd do it. My mom was one of them for sure. She was also a shitty cook.

I'm not a control freak and I find it really hard to be around people who are, and goddamn there are a lot of them out there.

I'd just like to find someone who actually cooks. Everyone I date thinks cooking is gross and basically lives off those meal box services. I haven't met anyone who likes to cooks in over a decade.